Category Archives: Breakfasts

Gluten free, dairy free, paleo, sugar free, grain free breakfasts

Apple Cinnamon Granola

| 5 Comments | Apps, Snacks & Sides, Beatty Protocols, Breakfasts, Recipes, Treats

apple cinnamon granola - grain free paleo vegan - Amanda NaturallyOne of the most frequent questions I get from clients is for more breakfast options. To be honest, I find it fascinating that people can have a bagel and cream cheese every single day for breakfast and not get bored, but bacon and eggs? Nope, bored. Everyone wants cereal! 

I’m not going to beat around the bush here – cereal is crap. Whoever decided it was a healthy breakfast option should be criminalized. Honestly. It’s sugar on refined grains on GMOs on more sugar. Cereal is not a source of fibre – vegetables are. Cereal is a heart attack waiting to happen. It causes crazy blood sugar spikes and subsequent crashes, leading to insulin insensitivity, hyperactivity and poor cognitive function. Is that how you want to start your work day? Or set your kids up for school? I don’t think so. Oh and it doesn’t matter if it’s Fruit Loops, Special K or gluten-free granola – it’s all garbage!!

end rant…

I’m a big fan of epic, nutrient dense breakfasts! Hop on over to my Instagram feed to check out what I eat for breakfast and you will see eggs, bacon, sausage, soup, leftovers (pulled pork, burgers), sauerkraut, avocados, fried plantains, salads….gimme all the nutrients! I make sure I focus on fat, protein and veggies for breakfast, and if it’s after a workout, I usually add in some starch in the form of coconut oil-fried plantains!

Some clients are totally on board with this right away, but others need what I like to think of as transition meals. My banana muffins are a perfect example of this – fairly nutrient dense, but still feel like the sweet, carb-dense breakfasts you’re used to. Or my coconut milk parfait in lieu of yogurt. But I kept getting asked for cereal!! And since there isn’t a single cereal (gluten-free or otherwise) that I’ve found worthy of purchasing, I had to find an alternative that you can make at home.

Enter: grain-free granola!

Who knew granola could be grain free? Wanna know something crazy? No one notices it’s missing the oats! Packed with nuts, seeds, raisins and shredded coconut, grain-free granola is every bit as delicious as its grain-filled counterpart. The first recipe I made was amazing – and I shouldn’t be surprised considering it’s from the always-inspired Danielle Walker at Against All Grain. Her spiced pumpkin granola is a hit with my clients and garnered rave reviews at our family thanksgiving this year! 

apple cinnamon granola - grain free paleo vegan - Amanda Naturally

Recently, I was looking for DIY gift options for Christmas and used her recipe as a jumping off point to create this recipe – Apple Cinnamon Granola. Super easy to make, delicious and it stands up to milk (or coconut milk) if you’re craving cereal! Fill a mason jar with this granola and wrap a bow around it for the perfect last minute Christmas gift. While this recipe works best in a dehydrator, you can absolutely bake it in the oven on 200F for a few hours, or at 350F if you watch it and stir it regularly! Enjoy!

apple cinnamon granola - grain free paleo vegan - Amanda Naturally

Apple Cinnamon Granola
Grain-free, vegan and paleo granola! A perfect alternative to cereal or an easy snack to grab and go!
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Dry
  1. 3 cups nuts and seeds
  2. ½ cup shredded coconut
  3. ½ cup raisins
Wet
  1. 2 tbsp coconut oil
  2. ½ cup maple syrup
  3. ¼ cup apple sauce
  4. 1 tsp sea salt
  5. 1 tbsp cinnamon
  6. 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
  1. Place nuts and seeds in a food processor or high powered blender (I used my Blendtec) and pulse until roughly chopped, approximately the size of oats. You may need to do this in steps.
  2. Pour into a large bowl and stir in shredded coconut and raisins.
  3. Meanwhile, melt the coconut oil in a small pot over medium heat.
  4. Add in maple syrup, apple sauce, vanilla and spices. Stir to combine.
  5. Pour wet ingredients over dry and stir really well. It will not be super sticky at this point - that's okay!
  6. Spread evenly onto 2 or 3 parchment paper-lined dehydrator trays, about a ½ inch thick, and dehydrate for 18-24 hours.
Notes
  1. Any combination of nuts and seeds work. I usually use half sunflower seeds (to keep the cost low), and the remainder pumpkin seeds, almonds and pecans.
  2. Make nut-free by using sunflower and pumpkin seeds only.
  3. Reduce sugar by using more apple sauce and less maple syrup.
Adapted from Against All Grain
Adapted from Against All Grain
Amanda Naturally http://www.amandanaturally.com/

apple cinnamon granola - grain free paleo vegan - Amanda Naturally

So tell me, do you miss cereal or any other North American breakfast staple? Share and I will try to recreate or substitute in a healthy way!

Banana Muffins

| 6 Comments | Apps, Snacks & Sides, Beatty Protocols, Breakfasts, Recipes, Treats

Banana muffins are my favourite. When I was little I used to always ask my mom to make “na-na muff-uffs”, which unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) means that’s still what we call banana muffins in my parents house! They may or may not have a home movie of 2.5 year old me baking “na-na muff-uffs” at my fisher price kitchen one Christmas morning…

Banana Muffins - Grain Free Dairy Free - Amanda Naturally

Typical nutriton educators call muffins “cupcakes without the icing”, which is mostly true. Take a carrot muffin for example. Many people choose carrot muffins over chocolate chip, because they’re healthier! Would you choose carrot cake over chocolate cake for health reasons? No! Because you know it’s still cake! What ingredients are typically found in a cake? White flour, white sugar, eggs, butter and baking soda. And a muffin? Flour, sugar, eggs, butter, baking soda, oil… Same recipe, slightly different ratios.

Banana Muffins - Grain Free Dairy Free - Amanda Naturally

There are a lot of “healthy” muffin recipes out there, but usually the focus is all about reducing the fat and cholesterol by eliminating the eggs and any oil that may be involved. Since we know that eggs have been wrongly demonized and that fat is crucial for health, suddenly those “healthy muffin” recipes are even worse than the original! White flour + white sugar + no nutrients. Well that screams diabetes in the making. Yowza!

Banana Muffins - Grain Free Dairy Free - Amanda Naturally

Even I cannot deny how convenient muffins are. They are easy to grab for a quick pick-me-up, or a breakfast if you don’t have time to make a real one, or to throw in your kids lunch bags. So instead of saying all muffins are off limits, why not change the ingredients to make them work for you, instead of against? I was on the hunt for a recipe that did just this and was thrilled when I stumbled across this one over at The Spunky Coconut. Real, nutrient-dense ingredients that are full of health-promoting vitamins, minerals, fat and protein. This was a muffin I could get behind. 

Banana Muffins - Grain Free Dairy Free - Amanda Naturally

Of course I had to tweak it a bit – since that’s what I do! I didn’t have applesauce, so I subbed an extra egg and it worked great. I also started adding lemon juice and zest, because lemon blueberry is an awesome flavour combo. Then recently, I had a client request a banana muffin for her kids. Most grain-free, dairy-free banana muffins rely heavily on almond flour and/or nut-butter. Since all schools are nut-free in Ontario, that wasn’t going to work. So I used the shredded coconut/egg base from the blueberry muffin recipe as my inspiration. I hope you enjoy these muffins as much as I do!

UPDATE (July 2016): I now throw all of the wet ingredients into my blender instead of mashing by hand. It eliminates the need for super ripe bananas (which are great, but I don’t always have them on hand, so yellow banana work too now) and your eggs don’t have to be room temperature either.

UPDATE: (May 2017): I no longer add maple syrup! I forgot to add it a few times and didn’t even notice the difference. This makes me especially happy because my 9 month old loves these muffins now and I feel great about giving her these!

Banana Muffins - Grain Free Dairy Free - Amanda Naturally

 

Banana Muffins (grain free, dairy free)
Serves 12
An old-fashioned banana muffin made without gluten, grains, dairy or sugar! Paleo and vegetarian!
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Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
30 min
Total Time
45 min
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
30 min
Total Time
45 min
Ingredients
  1. 6 eggs, brought to room temperature
  2. ½ cup coconut oil, melted
  3. ¼ cup honey or maple syrup (optional, I don't add it anymore)
  4. ½ tsp vanilla extract
  5. 2 cups mashed bananas
  6. 1 cup shredded coconut, unsweetened
  7. ½ cup coconut flour, sifted
  8. ½ tsp sea salt
  9. ½ tsp baking soda
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin tin with silicon liners.
  2. Combine wet ingredients in a bowl. (or add to a large blender, this eliminates the need for super ripe bananas or room temp eggs)
  3. Combine dry ingredients in another bowl.
  4. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix really well. It will thicken up after a few minutes.
  5. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop a generous serving into each muffin liner. They don't rise a lot, so fill them up to the top!
  6. Bake for 30 minutes, or until set and slightly golden.
  7. Let cool and enjoy!
Notes
  1. It is important to have the eggs at room temperature so they don't cause the coconut oil to solidify. If you don't have time to leave them out, simply place them in a bowl and cover with hot tap water for about 10 minutes, while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
  2. These muffins freeze really well so I always make a double batch and freeze half.
  3. You could totally turn these into cupcakes by adding dairy-free chocolate chips and icing!
Amanda Naturally http://www.amandanaturally.com/
Banana Muffins - Grain Free Dairy Free - Amanda Naturally

Do you have a favourite snack from your childhood that you’ve ‘healthified’? Share in the comments below!

Plantain Biscuits

| 4 Comments | Apps, Snacks & Sides, Beatty Protocols, Breakfasts, Recipes

I chose to stop eating bread long before I chose to go gluten-free. Why? Not because I was trying to lose weight (although that happened), or go low-carb, it was because of one simple thing:

Bread is a processed food.

Yes you read that right! Even your beloved whole-grain, ancient-grain, flax-and-what-have-you bread is a processed food. I don’t care how aggressively it has been marketed as a health food, it simply is not. The poor white potato, which has been so wrongly demonized, is more of a health food than bread can ever be. How is that possible? It’s simple! You can grow a white potato in your back yard, pick it, wash it (optional) and cook it. Can you say that about your bread? No way! The number of processing steps it takes to go from wheat to bread in the store is ridiculous! It goes something like this: 

Too many ingredients to count. Including 4 types of sugar, industrial seed oils and chemical stabilizers. - Amanda Naturally
Dempster’s 12 Grain Bread. Too many ingredients to count. Including 4 types of sugar, industrial seed oils and chemical stabilizers.
  1. plant the same wheat seeds over acres and acres of farmland (aka mono cropping)
  2. spray with herbicides, pesticides and synthetic fertilizers to prevent damage to the crop from pests, weeds and disease (more common with mono cropping), killing millions of insects and animals, destroying ecosystems (both land and water), harming farm workers and endangering near by towns. 
  3. harvest
  4. little-to-no nurturing of the soil, no replenishing of nutrients lost via other plants, biodegrading plant matter or animals grazing (hence the need for synthetic fertilizer) 
  5. store in silos, trucks, warehouses (all the while increasing the likelihood of mould growth)
  6. drive across the country for processing
  7. hull, process and strip of nutrients to make flour
  8. add a few synthetic vitamins back in to replace some of nutrients lost (not the same thing, by the way)
  9. make into bread with chemicals to increase shelf stability (check out that list of ingredients!)

How the heck that is considered a health food is beyond me. Not to mention the fact that the glycemic index of whole wheat bread is significantly higher than high-sugar food products like a can of Coke and a Snickers bar! And don’t even get me started about the gut and connective-tissue damaging effects of gluten. That is a topic for another post!

Unfortunately gluten-free breads are no better. Most go through the same processing. The only difference is they use gluten-free flours such as white rice, white potato, garbanzo bean, buckwheat and tapioca. They can actually be even worse because additional additives are needed to make it palatable and to mimic the fluffy, spongey characteristic of gluten.

Focusing on real, naturally gluten-free foods is the way to go. Think sweet potatoes, squash, and other starchy tubers/vegetables. They are satisfying, nutrient-dense, naturally shelf-stable and inexpensive! But what do you do when you really want a sandwich bun, or a fried egg sandwich, or a delicious piece of bread to finish off your spaghetti sauce with? You know a roasted sweet potato simply won’t cut it, so make these delicious Plantain Biscuits!!

Plantain Biscuits - Amanda Naturally

Plantains are naturally gluten-free and have quickly become my favourite batter ingredient. They are inexpensive, last forever in your pantry, and can be used in so many ways! By adding a little coconut flour, an egg and some flavouring you can make all sorts of delicious treats! Today, I bring you the biscuit. I had seen several variations of these floating around pinterest a while back, so I decided to start experimenting on my own. My version are made with ingredients I always have in my house, and as a result, these guys make a regular appearance at our meals. Bonus – they freeze really well! So make a large batch and freeze for future, desparate “what am I going to eat” moments. Enjoy!

Plantain Biscuits
Serves 24
Gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free alternative to bread, buns, english muffins and biscuits!
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Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
30 min
Total Time
45 min
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
30 min
Total Time
45 min
Ingredients
  1. 4 cups pureed green plantain
  2. 6 eggs
  3. ¾ cup coconut flour
  4. 1 tsp sea salt
  5. 1 tbsp gluten-free baking powder
  6. ½ cup coconut oil, melted
  7. sesame seeds (optional)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400F.
  2. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
  3. Peel plantains and chop into pieces.
  4. Blend in a high powered blender or food processor until almost pureed.
  5. Add eggs, flour, sea salt and baking powder. Blend again.
  6. While blending, stream in melted coconut oil. Combine thoroughly.
  7. Use an ice cream scooper to scoop out 24 biscuits onto the lined baking sheets.
  8. Gently flatten with a fork and top with additional sea salt or sesame seeds (optional).
  9. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until slightly golden.
  10. Remove and eat right away!
Notes
  1. Get creative with this recipe! Add garlic, chives or some spices.
  2. Use yellow-brown plantains to create a sweet biscuit. Add a pinch of cinnamon or a bit of honey to the batter as well.
  3. Flash freeze and store in freezer bags or glass tupperware.
Amanda Naturally http://www.amandanaturally.com/
Plantain Biscuits - Amanda Naturally

To prepare the plantains, slice off ends, score the skin and use your knife to lift off the skin to make peeling easier.
Plantain Biscuits - Amanda Naturally   Plantain Biscuits - Amanda Naturally

Chop into pieces and blend in a Blendtec or high powered food processor until mostly pureed.

Plantain Biscuits - Amanda Naturally   Plantain Biscuits - Amanda Naturally 

Add all ingredients except the oil. Combine. Drizzle in oil. Combine thoroughly.

Plantain Biscuits - Amanda Naturally    Plantain Biscuits - Amanda Naturally

Using an ice cream scoop, create 24 biscuits on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Plantain Biscuits - Amanda Naturally

Gently flatten with a fork, top with additional sea salt or sesame seeds.

Plantain Biscuits - Amanda Naturally   Plantain Biscuits - Amanda Naturally

Bake at 400F for 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven when golden. 

Plantain Biscuits - Amanda Naturally 

Enjoy immediately or freeze for later.

Plantain Biscuits - Amanda Naturally

How would you use these biscuits? As bread? An english muffin? Share in the comments below!

 

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